Doors & Frames
I was at a security meeting for one of my projects recently, and I heard the security consultant refer to the “secured side of the door,” meaning the inside – the area that is protected by the security system. I don’t know about you but my brain was imprinted long ago with the method of [...]
At the Boston Chapter CSI meeting tonight, we had a presentation by the appropriately-named “Woody” Vaughn of Vaughn Woodwork Consultants about the new Architectural Woodwork Standards. (I think I need a hardware-inspired nickname, but that will have to wait for another post.) The 1st edition of the Architectural Woodwork Standards was published on October 1st, [...]
When I started this blog, my goals were to organize all of the code information I had into a searchable database, and to offer a more painless way to learn about hardware. I think one of the hardest things about starting out in this industry is the way most of us learn about it – [...]
This post was printed in the April 2012 issue of Doors & Hardware The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (available for download at www.ada.gov) officially went into effect on March 15, 2012. The requirement for a 10-inch-high flush bottom rail on manual doors is now included in the ADA standards. Previously, it was not [...]
Every time I specify hardware for a door that swings into a pocket, a little alarm sounds in my head because at least 50% of the time there will be a problem that urgently needs to be fixed at the end of the job. This application requires coordination between the architect designing the pocket, the [...]
I recently needed to refer to a copy of HMMA-850, the NAAMM/HMMA standard for fire rated doors and frames. I was pleasantly surprised to find this standard on-line as a free download. Upon further digging, I found that almost ALL of the HMMA and SDI publications can be downloaded for free from their websites. There [...]
Every so often, I wonder what I’m going to write about on this blog after I’ve covered all of the code requirements for doors and hardware. I mean, it’s a very specific subject area so at some point I could run out of questions. And then something comes up that I’ve never looked into, and [...]
I’m having a couple of days of R & R in Burlington, Vermont, but the Doors of Burlington post will have to wait for a day when the weather is less inclement, or at least when I have a designated driver so I can hunt for doors from a moving vehicle. It has been tough [...]
I spent last weekend in Stowe, Vermont with one of my BFFs and we stayed at an “inn,” which seems to mean bigger than a bed and breakfast but not as modern as a hotel. As my friend said, “I got the keys…they’re real keys – how quaint!” I won’t get into how the lock [...]
Questions about frame labels have come up several times this week, so I guess it’s time for a post. I’ve pulled together some information from various sources and I hope some of you will chime in with your input. The most common questions on this topic are: Can a label on a fire-rated frame be [...]
I was recently elected as a town meeting member for my town (a pretty large town - 68,000 people), and tonight I attended my first-ever town meeting. It was pretty interesting to see government in action, but I also found time to hunt down some old doors for you all. You don’t see these old leather-wrapped [...]
As promised, I have some photos to post from my recent trip to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. I don’t typically mention the locations of the photos I post, usually because I don’t want to get in trouble for showing their code violations. Well, I’m not a gambler so I had plenty of time [...]
As many of you know, I took some time off last week. The plugin I had installed to scroll random posts broke my mobile site so I had to uninstall it. Hopefully you all read that last delayed egress post in depth to keep you occupied. I caught up on a lot of stuff while [...]
I was reading an article about blogging in Inc. the other day, and one paragraph really resonated with me: “The thing most people don’t understand is that the difference between a blog post and a magazine article is the difference between conversation and presentation,” notes Strauss. “If I were giving a presentation on a stage [...]
I’ve been to Nashville a few times, but somehow I missed seeing the replica of the Parthenon while I was there. Luckily I received some reader photos of the gigantic doors there, and I also found some photos on Flickr and obtained permission to share them here. Nashville’s replica of the Parthenon was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial [...]
When I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago for the IAPSC conference, it also happened to be school vacation week so I brought the kids along for a visit to my parents’ house. They all survived while I was in Miami Beach, so when I got back from the conference I took them [...]
Jon Dudley of Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies sent me these photos of a school in West Virginia, where apparently this was not a mistake – it’s the way the school wanted them. For the life of me I can’t figure out why. Any ideas? Maybe the outside of the school looks like this building that [...]
The first time I ever saw a wicket door, it was for a post office project and I was working on the shop drawings. I haven’t run into a whole lot of them since, but I saw a pair last weekend and risked the embarrassment of my friends to take some photos. The employee at [...]
This pair is located at the end of a walkway between two mill buildings in the Corah Factory in Leicester, England. Check out the locks on both leaves (more photos here). Thank you to Sam Tait for allowing me to post this photo.
